Pressemitteilung

C-584/14;

Rechtskräftig: unbekannt!

Since it delayed implementing the EU law relating to waste, Greece is ordered to pay a lump sum of €10 million and a penalty payment of €30 000 per day of delay

Leitsatz des Gerichts:

The Court had already held that Greece had failed to fulfil its obligations in a judgment in 2009

Click here to the full text of the judgement

By judgment of 10 September 2009¹, the Court of Justice held that Greece had failed to ensure a correct application of several directives, namely the directive on waste², the directive on hazardous waste³ and the directive on the landfill of waste⁴. In particular, the Court held that Greece had failed to draw up or adopt, within a reasonable period of time, a plan for the management of hazardous waste compatible with the requirements of EU law and failed also to establish an integrated and adequate network of disposal installations for hazardous waste characterised by the most appropriate methods in order to ensure a high level of protection for the environment and public health. Moreover, Greece had failed to take all the necessary measures to ensure, as regards the management of hazardous waste, compliance with the rules relating to the recovery and disposal of waste and the authorisation and operation of landfills.

Since the Commission considered, at the expiry of a deadline for compliance fixed on 25 March 2013, that Greece had still failed to take all the necessary measures to comply with the 2009 judgment, the Commission decided, in 2014, to bring before the Court a second action against Greece for failure to fulfil its obligations by requesting the imposition of pecuniary sanctions.

In its judgment delivered today, the Court concludes that Greece failed to take all the necessary measures to comply with the judgment of 2009. Therefore, at the deadline of 25 March 2013, Greece had still not adopted a specific plan for the management of hazardous waste, established an integrated and adequate network of installations for the disposal of hazardous waste or implemented a management of ‘historical waste’ (waste from the past provisionally stored in sites not designated for that purpose).

The Court considers that the failure by Greece to fulfil its obligations, in addition to lasting six years, is particularly serious, in so far as it is liable to directly endanger human health and to harm the environment. It states, in particular, that the construction of several installations and of three landfills for the treatment of hazardous waste has still not commenced. In those circumstances, the Court considers it appropriate to order Greece to pay, into the EU budget, a penalty payment of €30,000 per day of delay in the implementation of necessary measures to comply with the judgment of 2009, that penalty payment being payable from today until full compliance with the judgment of 2009.

Moreover, the Court considers it appropriate to order Greece to pay, into the EU budget, a lump sum of €10 million in order to prevent a repetition of infringements of EU law in the future.

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NOTE: An action for failure to fulfil obligations directed against a Member State which has failed to comply with its obligations under European Union law may be brought by the Commission or by another Member State. If the Court of Justice finds that there has been a failure to fulfil obligations, the Member State concerned must comply with the Court’s judgment without delay.

Where the Commission considers that the Member State has not complied with the judgment, it may bring a further action seeking financial penalties. However, if measures transposing a directive have not been notified to the Commission, the Court of Justice can, on a proposal from the Commission, impose penalties at the stage of the initial judgment.
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¹Case 268/08 Commission v Greece.
²Directive 2006/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on waste (OJ 2006 L 114, p. 9).
³ Council Directive 91/689/EEC of 12 December 1991 on hazardous waste (OJ 1991 L 377, p. 20).
⁴Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste (OJ 1999 L 182, p. 1).

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Die von uns erfassten Urteile wurden oft anders formatiert als das Original. Dies bedeutet, daß Absätze eingefügt und Hervorhebungen durch fett-/kursiv-/&farbig-machen sowie Unterstreichungen vorgenommen wurden. Dies soll verdeutlichen, aber keinesfalls natürlich den Sinn verändern.Wenn Sie vorsichtshalber zusätzlich die Originalversion sehen möchten, hier ist der Link zur Quelle (kein Link? Dann ist dieser Link nicht in unserer DB gespeichert, z.B. weil das Urteil vor Frühjahr 2009 gespeichert worden ist).